ATM Warning

[lthomas132]

My dive bud & I returned from Cozumel July 28, 2013 after 9 days of diving. July 27th, we did not dive so we planned on a trip to the beach at PDC. On the way to the ferry pier my dive bud wanted to stop at an ATM to get cash. We first stopped at the 2 ATMs on Calle 5 & the Drag (by the chamber). He said that they didn't work so we walked down to the Plaza and stopped at the 2 ATMs on the NW corner of the plaza. He said that the first one gave him some type of error on his debit card so he used another from a different account. It didn't work either. He tried the second machine and it worked giving him dollars. It's been a lttle over 2 weeks since then but yesterday he found that both accounts had been drained, with several thousand in each account. Here's a cut-and-paste of his email extract: "
I have spent half the day dealing with fraudulent charges on both of my bank accounts. My mouse money and the family money were both cleaned out by fraudulent charges made in Mexico the past 2 days.

Remember when those bank machines did not work. I bet they had been hacked during the night so that everyone trying to use them would have their debit card info stolen.

BOA said they would reimburse me 100% Chase did not commit to 100% reimbursement—however, I think they will or I will raise a stink.
Problem for now is that I have no money and no cards.

It is a good thing that tomorrow is pay day."

Those that have been to or are going should be aware and check your accounts!

The advice from the banks was to go to a bank and use the in person counter to withdraw from a CC or debit.

 

[judydivescoz]

Sorry to hear about your friends troubles. The best advice is to only use ATMs at a bank not freestanding machines. That's good advice just about anywhere in the world! It sounds like your friend used one of the Cashola machines. Never get USD in any ATM in Cozumel....it's a very expensive transaction! We have always had trouble free withdrawals at the Santander Bank on 10.
Hope he gets all his money back!

 

[Pelagicsal]

Were all of the ATMs the free-standing ones? Or the ones at the bank locations?

 

[lthomas132]

Were all of the ATMs the free-standing ones? Or the ones at the bank locations?

All the ones he used were free standing

 

[JFS]

Use only bank machines at a bank and or at Mega and Chedraui. The one on calle 5 (cashola) has been an issue for many others as well...hope you get your money back.

 

[cvchief]

Use only bank machines at a bank and or at Mega and Chedraui. The one on calle 5 (cashola) has been an issue for many others as well...hope you get your money back.

And I have read reports that a couple years ago or so, one of the Mega machines might have been compromised as well as Santander at the airport.

And since your pal was carrying BOA, he should have gone to the Santander bank on Ave 10. No transaction fees whatsoever for BOA cards since they are sister banks or something. We got a BOA free online checking account just to get pesos at Santander.

 

[JFS]

Mega has a security guard by the machines so it may be tougher for those to be compromised unless he is part of the scam....

 

[lthomas132]

Seems that if there is some type of Chamber of Commerce for San Miguel, they should try and put a stop to this. It sure doesn't look very good for divers/tourism.

 

[Mike]

Seems that if there is some type of Chamber of Commerce for San Miguel, they should try and put a stop to this. It sure doesn't look very good for divers/tourism.

LOL where's the popcorn? There are lots of things like this in Mexico that could be mitigated but won't. It's Mexico, corruption is rampant and tourists are considered a cash crop by the locals and politicians are locals too. As long as they can shear some of the wool off the sheep without killing the sheep they will continue to do so.

Glad your buddy is getting reimbursed by his banks. Luckily the exposure was sort of small.

I keep a separate bank account/ATM card for ATM use when travelling abroad, only move money into it when I travel overseas and move any remainng back out upon return. I would think twice about using an ATM card out of the USA that is attached to your main account.

 

[cvchief]

Mega has a security guard by the machines so it may be tougher for those to be compromised unless he is part of the scam....

Well you would think so. I am just repeating what a local business owner posted a while back. In the past I used mega's ATM all the time and never had a problem.

---------- Post added August 16th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ----------

LOL where's the popcorn? There are lots of things like this in Mexico that could be mitigated but won't. It's Mexico, corruption is rampant and tourists are considered a cash crop by the locals and politicians are locals too. As long as they can shear some of the wool off the sheep without killing the sheep they will continue to do so..

So does that apply equally here in the US? Credit card fraud is not a foreign issue. Not caring about credit card fraud particularly isn't a foreign issue either.

Got a case running now with at least 50 cards compromised. And that number come from the end user, ie the people driving around with a stack of cloned cards. I have no idea how many there are total. Looks like it all came from a small restaurant in Georgia. Funny though there are 4 cards from around Europe. I guess those people are saying:

"There are lots of things like this in [-]Mexico[/-] the United States that could be mitigated but won't. It's [-]Mexico[/-] the United States , corruption is rampant and tourists are considered a cash crop by the locals and politicians are locals too. As long as they can shear some of the wool off the sheep without killing the sheep they will continue to do so."

There are a ton of things you can say are particularly big problems in Mexico especially, but credit/debit card fraud doesn't qualify as a "Mexico" problem.